These workshops begin in January 2024. We plan to offer the Zeal to Grow Workshop classes as individual options for professional studies, workshops, and job shadowing that will allow us to provide a wide range of locations, topics, and teachers.

Each workshop will have a topic, location, suggested age, number of open spots, cost, and a qualified guide who will host/teach. Some classes will allow for 15 to 20 kids at a library or community center, while other classes will be in an actual workplace and allow for five or six. This will enable students to see work being done, interact with the teams there, and ask questions directly to those who work in the focused areas. Some classes will be during the week, while others might fall on a Saturday. Class times will also vary based on instructor flexibility. The cost per class will range from $25 to $65 and will depend on the instructor, materials, length, and location costs.

I, Brett Jackson, will lead the classes that I have experience in, but we also plan to open it up to allow for artists, musicians, artisans, makers, and a wide range of small business owners to be involved in the workshops and lead them. I plan to be in attendance at every workshop that I can. Parents will be welcome to stay, and for workshops where it is necessary, parents will be asked to volunteer to help chaperone the group.

This workshop/professional format will allow a much wider variety of skills to be learned in exposure to the actual workplaces where these professionals work. It will also allow for age-appropriate individual workshops for grade school all the way up to high school students. We plan to continue this format into the summer, allowing us to expand our reach and share these workshops with more students who are excited to learn.